7 - Stress Management Deep Dive

0:38

what's up guys

0:39

welcome to episode seven today we're

0:41

going to talk about stress management

0:43

now stress is not necessarily a bad

0:45

thing and we were just talking about

0:46

this before i hit record

0:49

people really demonize cortisol right

0:50

and it's like this evil hormone that's

0:52

going to mess you up

0:54

but today we're going to talk about what

0:56

it really does and how stress can

0:59

actually be a good thing in some cases

1:01

but also how chronically elevated

1:03

cortisol continuous stress can really

1:05

mess you up

1:07

so we're going to talk about what stress

1:08

really is what it means the different

1:10

types of stress and we're gonna get into

1:13

the allostatic mode basically in english

1:16

the overall stress load that you have

1:18

now we're gonna get into the nervous

1:20

system

1:21

and how you can manage stress and we're

1:23

gonna finish off with our personal top

1:25

threes of

1:27

how we like to manage stress for

1:28

ourselves

1:30

now related to this podcast i actually

1:32

wrote a article as well where i

1:34

mentioned

1:36

basically what we're going to talk about

1:37

today but also 20 methods that i think

1:39

can help you manage stress now it's

1:41

going to be personal once again it's

1:43

always going to be personal but i think

1:45

you're going to benefit from that

1:46

article and then christine also wrote a

1:49

post on that which we're going to also

1:50

link

1:51

in the description so i'll put my

1:53

article down there christine's post and

1:55

that post is about the effects of

1:56

chronically elevated cortisol so check

1:59

that out and yeah let's get into the

2:01

episode so christine is going to start

2:02

off with

2:03

what is stress

2:05

okay so

2:06

what is stress

2:10

i think many people

2:12

when they think stress they are just

2:14

thinking

2:16

more on the emotional side

2:19

um so maybe like family issues you know

2:23

relationship issues work stress

2:26

uh financial stress right those are

2:28

those are kind of like emotional

2:30

but there is many different factors

2:34

when it comes to stress that we often

2:36

don't think about so

2:38

those are all stressors for sure um

2:42

but

2:43

there is one part in within stress that

2:48

we call perceived stress

2:50

so

2:52

per se stress is how

2:55

we respond

2:57

to a certain stressor

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um

2:59

[Music]

3:01

it's almost the feelings of like lack of

3:03

control or uncertainty within something

3:06

right so how we are responding to a

3:08

certain stressor um perceived stress can

3:11

also be

3:12

things like anxiety depression

3:15

um

3:17

just mental

3:18

stress in general

3:20

so

3:22

outside of that

3:23

there's other stressors we often don't

3:26

think about okay so

3:29

it could be i have a whole list here

3:31

so there's poor diet as a stressor blood

3:34

sugar dysregulation under eating or

3:37

overeating

3:39

nutrient deficiencies too much exercise

3:42

too little exercise

3:45

circadian disruption so

3:47

someone who is like a

3:50

um

3:52

a shift a shift worker

3:54

there's a lot of circadian disruptions

3:57

and stress happening there with that

4:00

lack of sleep poor gut health you know

4:03

inflammation

4:04

injuries these are all stressors

4:08

on the body can be

4:10

um

4:12

one major one i did kind of say here but

4:15

one major one

4:17

that a lot of people actually think is a

4:19

stress reliever is actually a stressor

4:21

on the system is exercise

4:23

i will say there are instances where

4:28

exercise may not be a stressor for sean

4:31

so someone that you know has a lot of

4:34

body fat to lose and they're

4:36

exercising

4:38

to you know lose that body fat that's

4:40

that is not going to essentially be a

4:42

stressor on someone like that

4:44

um but

4:46

in general

4:48

exercise is a stressor for most people

4:52

but we um

4:55

think about it more it's a stress

4:56

reliever from the mental health side of

4:59

things but it's still a stressor

5:02

from the physical

5:03

so a lot of the times when like

5:06

my clients are going through a really

5:08

stressful situation or they're just

5:10

stress cadets

5:12

in general um we have to

5:17

dial the exercise down a little bit

5:21

because to manage some of the stress on

5:23

the system

5:25

it's one thing we are in control of when

5:28

it comes to managing that stress

5:31

but

5:32

it's like it's the continual exposure

5:35

it's the

5:37

stress that ultimately creates

5:40

dysfunction in the body so

5:42

when we have all of these things piling

5:45

up all of these stressors

5:47

um

5:49

we'll see down regulations and sex

5:51

hormones you know thyroid

5:53

we can see it impacting sleep because

5:56

our cortisol is going all wonky

5:58

um you know poor gut health

6:01

downregulation metabolism

6:04

but it's it's cr it's the chronic stress

6:07

that does this and not the acute like we

6:09

need stress and and johan's gonna talk

6:11

about this um

6:14

but it's all of these compiling on each

6:17

other that does create

6:20

the dysfunction

6:22

um or the problems with our health down

6:24

the road all right and then we're gonna

6:26

move on to

6:28

how much can you handle and johan's

6:30

gonna hit that one up

6:32

yeah

6:33

and exactly like you mentioned the

6:35

prolonged stress like that's really

6:37

where it goes wrong right that's where

6:39

it starts to have a negative effect

6:41

because some temporary and you know

6:44

acute stress is actually you know

6:46

considered good stress it can

6:48

help you you know improve that's where

6:51

you know you stress the muscle

6:53

when you then recover you become bigger

6:55

stronger faster etc

6:57

you know acute stress can also help you

6:59

improve your immune system

7:01

while on the other hand you know chronic

7:03

stress can do the opposite right it's

7:05

more catabolic related to breaking down

7:08

tissue which we don't want right we want

7:10

to hold onto muscle as much as we can

7:13

it can also lead to chronic inflammation

7:15

insulin resistance

7:17

getting sick basically faster aging

7:20

and much more an injury is maybe a good

7:22

one to mention too because

7:24

that's maybe one

7:25

a lot of people who tend to over train a

7:27

little

7:27

might run into and that's being injured

7:30

right

7:31

i was a prison example of that

7:34

yeah exactly right and i mentioned this

7:37

i think in the first episode

7:38

like

7:40

at some point at the gym at crossfit

7:42

like back when i was two crosses still

7:44

it was like everyone was like walking

7:46

around with these little

7:47

weird like not full-blown injuries but

7:49

like it was getting there you know and

7:51

some people did have actual injuries

7:54

hey might just be too much stress you

7:55

know which we don't really think of

7:58

because it's like no i like exercise

8:00

right i like working out like for me

8:02

it's a stress relieving

8:05

um you know activity

8:08

mentally sure

8:09

mentally you know

8:11

but physically it's still a big stressor

8:15

we'll get into actual stress management

8:17

later on but like

8:18

that's also going to include you know

8:20

adjusting training load when you need to

8:22

but okay

8:24

it's all about finding the just right

8:26

amount

8:27

too little

8:29

it's not really gonna do much right

8:31

very little stress or no stress is gonna

8:33

just keep you in your comfort zone it's

8:35

nice and safe right but it's also not

8:37

where we actually grow and get better

8:39

etc

8:42

now too much for too long

8:44

starts to work against you

8:46

and the right amount can help you grow

8:48

physically and mentally

8:50

now back to you stress management right

8:52

what does it even mean i think it's a

8:54

term that's uh thrown around quite a lot

8:56

and um

8:57

without a lot of context like

8:59

people often say like you see these

9:01

posts like you need to manage stress too

9:03

much stress is not good for you how do

9:05

you do that is it about removing all

9:07

stressors or maybe not like let's talk

9:09

about that let's talk about the nervous

9:11

system and the sympathetic versus the

9:13

parasympathetic state

9:16

yes so

9:17

when we're talking stress so when we're

9:20

in a stressful situation

9:22

[Music]

9:23

it's

9:26

activating the sympathetic nervous

9:28

system which is fight or flight so

9:31

centers activity danger it's a threat to

9:34

the system

9:36

emotional stuff as well can create that

9:39

response

9:40

um

9:41

you can see like heart rate increasing

9:44

the body tightening up right so it's

9:46

fight or flight you're ready to

9:50

essentially

9:51

get after something right it goes back

9:53

to like our ancestors when

9:56

this was really important for them when

9:58

they were hunting right and gathering

10:00

food

10:01

now the parasympathetic system is

10:04

it regulates the rest and digest

10:07

so it brings the body into a relaxed

10:09

state

10:10

heart rate decreases and this is where

10:13

we can rest relax repair

10:15

so

10:16

we want a balance of both of those

10:20

right if we have if we are constantly in

10:23

the sympathetic state in that fight or

10:25

flight

10:26

we are going to like i said start to run

10:29

into

10:30

dysfunction

10:32

we have to come back to

10:34

remembering that the body cares about

10:37

two things

10:39

right it cares about survival and

10:41

reproduction

10:42

so

10:43

when we are in a constant stress state

10:47

it's going to start to

10:49

down regulate hormones like sex hormones

10:52

you'll notice things like you could see

10:54

like libido decreasing

10:57

right all of these things start to down

10:59

regulate because it's just not a

11:01

priority for the body right when we see

11:04

sex hormones down regulating

11:06

the body doesn't want to be

11:09

bringing a baby in the world that you

11:11

cannot care for if you're under this

11:13

amount of stress right so it does that

11:16

on purpose it's a survival mechanism

11:19

right

11:20

um

11:20

[Music]

11:21

so important to like johann said we need

11:25

this stress but we also need to be

11:26

making sure we are tapping into that

11:29

parasympathetic state because that's

11:31

where we are

11:33

repairing right so even something that a

11:36

lot of people don't think about too is

11:38

being in the fight or flight state um

11:41

it will impact things like digestion too

11:44

right just not a priority when we're

11:46

under a threat

11:47

so we tend to see digestion issues pop

11:50

up

11:51

and so like someone who's working on gut

11:54

health

11:55

that is always a main focus is

11:58

where can we manage the stress

12:01

right so then once they start doing that

12:04

we see you know bloating just gut stuff

12:07

in general start to improve it's one of

12:09

the biggest factors i would say

12:11

in

12:13

society as a whole we have a lot of gut

12:15

health issues right now but we're also

12:17

really really stressed

12:19

right so yes there's so many different

12:21

factors playing into that but stress is

12:23

one major one

12:26

when you're in a chronic sympathetic

12:28

state so fight or flight

12:30

like i said you can see some sex

12:32

hormones down regulating thyroid down

12:34

regulating

12:36

um you can start to see like women

12:38

losing their cycle or like running into

12:40

pcos or men low teeth

12:43

women can have low t too

12:45

um but it will impact your sleep it will

12:47

impact your mental health and it can

12:50

have an impact on fertility

12:52

um but again it's the continual

12:56

uh state of being in the sympathetic

13:00

right the fight or flight

13:02

and this also shows up when

13:04

two examples when in crossfit for

13:07

example or any sport

13:09

people over train continue to diet and

13:11

diet and under eat

13:14

or on the bodybuilding side of things

13:17

you get too lean

13:18

keep eating very little keep dieting

13:21

we run into reds relative energy

13:23

deficiency in sports

13:26

where

13:27

there's not enough food right there's

13:29

too much stress on the system

13:31

that's where women can for example run

13:33

into loss of menstrual cycle right

13:35

men as you mentioned super low t it's

13:38

not going to be great just

13:39

for overall health and performance

13:42

pretty common i think right

13:44

within sports in general but also

13:46

bodybuilding

13:48

how do how would you fix that when

13:50

someone

13:51

runs into that right where they've been

13:53

stressing the system too much there's no

13:55

menstrual cycle for example or there's

13:56

low testosterone we know someone is you

14:00

know not eating enough over training

14:01

over stress

14:03

how would you go about that

14:05

you're getting this fought here oh

14:06

that's okay

14:07

um

14:08

well you have to figure out where it's

14:10

coming from

14:12

you have to get to the root of where

14:14

it's coming from so

14:16

if it's coming from someone who's under

14:19

eating

14:20

and

14:22

over training we have to

14:24

start eating more and pulling back on

14:26

training um if it's coming from

14:29

you know

14:30

work stress

14:32

it just it kind of depends it's hard to

14:35

say exactly like how i would attack it

14:37

because everyone's gonna be

14:40

totally different right and what's

14:43

causing this

14:44

um

14:46

i do run labs with my clients and things

14:49

like that

14:50

um

14:52

but again it totally depends

14:54

it's hard for me to answer that question

14:56

true true you know it just it kind of is

14:59

because

15:01

if i have a female who has reds and

15:04

doesn't have a cycle or anything like

15:06

that the the simple answer is to start

15:09

increasing calories and pulling back on

15:12

training and adding in you know

15:14

parasympathetic movement like yoga

15:18

um

15:19

adding in

15:20

um

15:21

stress management that like works for

15:23

them it's all about controlling the

15:25

stress

15:28

i wanted to add a scary one and that is

15:30

gaining body fat

15:32

sometimes we have to as well when we get

15:34

too yes

15:35

yes we do that's a big one

15:37

and um

15:39

that's why i wanted to bring that one up

15:40

actually

15:41

because

15:42

that's a scary thing right and it's not

15:45

something a lot of people want to hear

15:47

it's luckily by the way like it's likely

15:48

not something that's super common either

15:50

right

15:51

but it does happen and you know i know

15:54

quite a few people are into bodybuilding

15:56

and stuff and who do run into that right

15:59

not necessarily very healthy to be super

16:01

lean

16:02

no

16:03

and it doesn't it doesn't necessarily

16:06

have to be super lean people either

16:09

like i've seen people who

16:11

just simply need to add more body fat

16:13

not because they're super lean just

16:15

because to optimize hormonal health

16:17

right it can happen regardless if

16:19

someone's super lean or not

16:23

another reason to not keep dieting right

16:26

right

16:27

okay

16:30

i was going to add one more is that cool

16:32

yeah let's stress

16:33

in relation to sleep

16:35

because stress can really mess with your

16:37

circadian rhythm

16:40

cortisol kind of blocks melatonin

16:42

production

16:44

which then makes it very difficult to

16:45

fall asleep if not impossible sometimes

16:49

which once again is a big stressor to

16:51

the body right

16:52

disrupted you know circadian rhythm not

16:54

enough sleep

16:56

it's gonna lead to recovery as well

16:58

we kind of end up in this vicious cycle

17:01

another reason to

17:02

manage stress right

17:04

to balance those two parasympathetic and

17:06

sympathetic

17:08

and a little

17:09

exercise that i learned from sam miller

17:11

our mutual friend

17:13

and that's the drains that charges

17:14

exercise you know what that one yep

17:17

right yeah i do that with some clients

17:18

every now and then basically take a

17:19

piece of paper we write it down drains

17:21

the charges

17:22

and i just asked him like write down all

17:25

the things that drain you right

17:27

physically and mentally on one side and

17:29

then on the other side

17:31

write down what you do to recharge

17:33

also mentally physically etc

17:36

more than often there's a whole lot on

17:37

that stress side and not that much on

17:39

the parasympathetic side

17:41

and

17:42

that's really my point here

17:44

we can just start looking at that stress

17:46

side and say we got to remove all this

17:47

right because that's

17:49

pretty much impossible in many cases

17:51

maybe some here and there right

17:54

but i would say let's focus more on the

17:56

parasympathetic

17:58

activities right where we can bring you

18:00

in that rest and digest state we can't

18:02

try to lower cortisol

18:04

which by the way another way to do that

18:06

lowering cortisol

18:08

might be eating carbs right because

18:10

spike insulin or cortisol can then help

18:12

you sleep which is why with some people

18:15

and this is one of those stress managing

18:17

methods basically that i mentioned in

18:18

the article so with some people

18:21

we incorporate a bedtime meal which is

18:23

pretty high in carbs for that reason can

18:25

help you fall asleep

18:27

now it's not 200 grams of carbs right

18:29

before bedtime

18:30

but you know some in the evening can

18:32

probably help you quite a bit

18:34

that being said

18:36

let's get into our top three favorite

18:38

ways to manage stress with first of all

18:40

ourselves so

18:43

what i will say about stress management

18:46

is that

18:48

i think we often

18:50

think it needs to be like

18:52

reading and journaling and like

18:54

meditating and and there's nothing wrong

18:57

with those things

18:58

um but for some it doesn't recharge us

19:02

um

19:04

or it doesn't bring us joy i think that

19:07

you need to do things that bring you joy

19:10

when it comes to stress management

19:12

um

19:14

so for me it's

19:16

getting out and shooting my bow

19:18

right that is a very it's an activity

19:22

that makes me very present right i love

19:25

it i'm like focusing on just that

19:28

um

19:28

and so that's one of them for me i love

19:31

shooting my bow with eric

19:33

another

19:35

really big one for me is walks in nature

19:40

it just brings me so much peace i enjoy

19:43

it

19:44

um

19:45

i also find i'm like very creative when

19:47

i'm in nature

19:49

which is which is great

19:51

and then

19:51

[Music]

19:53

last but not least is i like doing

19:56

absolutely nothing

19:58

uh and i think a lot of people struggle

20:00

with this

20:02

but i like just laying down

20:05

all my coach with eric and rose and

20:08

watching a show like that to me i am

20:11

just totally relaxed

20:13

it brings me joy

20:15

and i'm present and

20:18

that's those are my my top three it

20:21

it doesn't for me i've really tried to

20:23

get into

20:25

meditating

20:26

um i'm more of like an active meditator

20:29

i think more or less

20:31

um but it just it just i couldn't get

20:34

into it

20:35

and so i i think

20:36

a lot of people are in my shoes and they

20:39

probably and now they're stressed

20:40

because they can't

20:42

meditate it's like okay no we need to

20:44

figure something out so like

20:47

for example my client one of my clients

20:49

i checked in today

20:51

um

20:52

like her and her husband took a weekend

20:54

and they went and i think they stayed in

20:57

a hotel like even where they lived and

20:59

they just had dinner and like

21:01

there's an amazing stress reliever for

21:03

her

21:04

right it doesn't have to be

21:07

reading

21:08

it doesn't have to be journaling so just

21:10

want to give you guys examples

21:12

of that

21:14

very good point i was laughing about the

21:16

the the meditation one because

21:19

i mean there is something to be said

21:20

about giving it a shot right because for

21:22

everyone it's gonna be super weird in

21:24

the beginning

21:25

because we're not used to that yeah i've

21:26

tried it so many times i just can't do

21:29

it yeah no

21:30

that's fine like you should try you know

21:32

but like

21:34

i think it's very uncommon these days

21:35

for anyone

21:36

almost no one does this but like you sit

21:38

down with your thoughts and

21:41

with your eyes closed and it's just you

21:43

and your totally what's going on in your

21:44

mind yeah no one does that well not no

21:47

one

21:48

barely anyone does it yeah

21:50

because it is weird right we're not used

21:52

to that so anything that we're not used

21:54

to is going to be uncomfortable in the

21:56

beginning so

21:59

i would say

22:00

if you want to try it out go ahead

22:02

because it might be great but like you

22:04

said as well could also just be not for

22:06

you

22:07

i like it personally i haven't been

22:09

doing it recently i will admit but i

22:11

like it from time to time you know

22:15

on the other hand

22:16

for me it doesn't work you know for

22:18

sleep

22:19

and yeah i had a time a while ago where

22:21

i could not sleep i actually don't know

22:23

what it was probably stress but

22:26

i just couldn't sleep you know

22:28

um

22:29

and i would try to use the head space i

22:31

would like put on like the sleep

22:33

meditation thing

22:34

and i would get so frustrated

22:37

i would

22:38

like just get more stressed from using

22:41

that f you know yeah and i was like

22:43

i can't fall asleep you can't fall

22:44

asleep can't fall asleep so just making

22:46

it worse

22:48

and it's like 4am you're still trying to

22:49

like meditate you know but then it's

22:51

like okay just never mind right but

22:53

anyway

22:54

things that i do at the moment

22:58

being in nature that's the number one

23:00

walks in general are nice but when i'm

23:02

in nature and especially up here in

23:04

norway which honestly is why i stayed

23:06

here you know is

23:08

so good for me just being outside

23:10

especially if it's on the coast in order

23:12

to hear the water

23:13

or be up in the mountains

23:16

just have you know put up a tent

23:18

somewhere and just chill make a campfire

23:20

or something like that's the best

23:21

you know it's so good

23:24

that's my number one favorite way

23:26

and i gotta do more of it to be honest

23:29

second is journaling and planning and

23:31

this might be a useful one because i

23:33

think a lot of times when we're

23:35

being unproductive or kind of like our

23:38

thoughts tend to go everywhere

23:40

like sit down and write down right

23:43

well you just want to plan for your week

23:45

right these are the things that need to

23:46

get done today tomorrow etc

23:49

whether that includes your nutrition or

23:51

not right meal prepping etc you can plan

23:53

for that because then you're less likely

23:56

to forget if you don't forget you're

23:58

maybe less stressed about forgetting

24:00

your meal prep right

24:02

or journaling in general i like to write

24:04

down you know stuff that i'm grateful

24:06

for in the morning i do do that every

24:08

morning

24:10

how i can do better personally right

24:12

and a couple other things but anyway

24:14

long story short like you said it's not

24:15

for everyone so i want you guys to think

24:18

about the stuff that we mentioned and

24:19

also go into christine's post and my

24:21

article and look into those different

24:23

methods because it's going to be

24:24

different for every

24:26

person out there

24:28

now

24:28

lastly going for walks i kind of put

24:31

that it's kind of double but like i

24:32

often go for a walk in the city too

24:35

just going for a walk five minutes 10

24:37

minutes it usually kind of recharges me

24:40

quite a bit if i

24:42

really struggle riding

24:44

i go out

24:45

before you know it i'm like on my phone

24:46

i'm like writing down yeah i'm the same

24:48

way i'm the same one like as i'm walking

24:50

i'm like getting good ideas you know on

24:52

this morning i wrote like half an

24:53

article like walking basically

24:55

[Music]

24:56

so yeah

24:58

very basic like nothing crazy nothing

25:00

hippie right

25:01

no like weird stuff there

25:04

there there's even like some supplements

25:06

that can help us manage cortisol but i

25:08

purposely didn't write those down

25:10

because i think

25:11

we tend to kind of go for those options

25:13

right yeah we're like yeah no let me

25:16

just try to supplement first but no just

25:18

go outside a little bit more first right

25:21

do less

25:22

or chill on couch whatever

25:25

whatever works for you

25:27

so to kind of recap what we talked about

25:28

today

25:30

we talked about what stress really is

25:32

right he perceived stress as well as

25:34

physical

25:35

acute stress versus chronic and how it

25:38

affects the body how much you can handle

25:41

and how you can manage that loan right

25:44

if you look at those two different

25:45

states right rest and digest the fight

25:47

or flight how much are you doing on the

25:50

stress side and how much are you

25:51

actually doing to counter that

25:54

now we also shared some of our personal

25:55

favorites

25:57

and we talked a little bit about sleep

25:59

and you know loss of menstrual cycle etc

26:02

once again

26:03

stress becomes a problem when it's

26:05

prolonged

26:07

too much for too long right just like

26:09

with dieting and all that stuff

26:11

if you want to learn more about this

26:13

learn more about stress if you want a

26:15

little recap check out my article i'll

26:17

link it in the show notes as well as

26:18

christine's post

26:20

which will also link

26:22

and we will talk to you guys next week

26:24

thanks for listening